Kreator

Live at The Avalon

Hollywood, California

September 26th, 2012

Review and Photos by Travis Baumann

Since 1985 Kreator have been putting out albums that have defined thrash metal. With thirteen full length releases out including this year's "Phantom Antichrist" it is with great excitment that I finally get to see them live.

I remember back in the mid 80's first hearing them and getting into their early releases right along side the other big thrash legends such as Anthrax, Metallica, and of course the band that they are most often compared to, Slayer.

Hailing from Essen, Germany many fans in the States have not had the opportunity to see these guys so when it was announced that they would be co-headling the Teutonic Terror Attack Tour with Accept we were going to finally get our chance.

I had picked up the new album and can say definitively that it is a great release. From the first title track the album takes off and doesn't let go to the very last note. They started the set off with this monster which was exactly what I wanted.

The set moved on to "From Flood Into Fire" and then one of my favorite tracks of theirs "Enemy of God". It becomes apparent from just these few song titles what the majority of their lyrical and imagery content lean towards.

"Phobia" was up next and then lead into "Hordes of Chaos" two great songs that were followed by the awesome "Civilization Collapse" off the latest release.

The band consists of first and foremost Milli Petrozza on guitar and vocals, being the founder and foundation of the band. The rest of the band have been in this configuration since 2001 and include a second guitarist, bass player, and drums: the stick-man also being from the original lineup although he left the band for a period of time in the 90's.

The set list moved all over their history of releases and included thier biggest crowd favorites such as "Extreme Aggression", "Endless Pain", and one of my personal favorites, "Death To The World".

They ended the main set with the early hit "Pleasure to Kill". After an instrumental interlude they returned to the stage to give us "Violent Revolution", and "Betrayer" finishing up their performance with a fusion of two of their most well known songs "Flag of Hate/Tormentor".

For my first Kreator concert I was definitely not disappointed. They played a full set covering so many great songs from albums that span over 30 years of kick ass metal.

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